High-Profile Charter School Will Give Preference to ELLs

A charter school just approved for the Upper West Side of Manhattan, to be run by the Success Charter Network of schools headed by Eva S. Moskowitz, will give preference to English-language learners, according to The New York Times. The school will also give preference to students zoned to attend schools that received a D or F in student performance on their public report cards, the Times reports.

Some have opposed the school because they feel it could reduce diversity in other schools in the area that aren't well integrated racially.

Earlier this year New York state officials decided that ELLs fall under the category of students who are at risk of academic failure, paving the way for charter schools in the state to give preference to such students in admissions. So we may see more charter schools in that state going this route.

Moskowitz, a former councilwoman in New York City, was featured in the film "The Lottery," which followed four families trying to get their children into the lottery for the Harlem Success Academy, which is managed by Success Charter Network. The impression I had of her in that film was that she is no shrinking violet.

She wrote an editorial in the New York Post recently arguing that the new school is needed because parents on the Upper West Side "are demanding more options for their children."

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